Updates from our Cuckoos

Jake has left Cameroon and made it to the Congo rainforest in Democratic Republic of Congo a further 1650km (1020 miles) south-east. He is now in the swamp forests close to Lake Tumba. 

Both Sherwood birds 134957 and 134955 have moved over 700km (470 miles) east from their locations in Burkina Faso in the last few days and are now in northern Nigeria. This leaves just Chester in Burkina Faso who becomes our most westerly bird by over 960km (595 miles). 

Cuckoo 134597 has moved south, travelling 485km (300 miles) from Mali to Nigeria. He is now only 100km (60 miles) away from Skinner's location.

134957 arrived in Mali in the middle of August and has remained there since. He is the most northerly of all the Cuckoos within Africa and we would expect him to move further south and east soon, towards the Congo rainforest. 

On 10 August 134957 was north-west of Toulouse in southern France. Signals received on 14 August indicated that he had travelled 800km (500 miles) south from there and crossed the Balearic Sea to reach the Algerian coast.  He continued to travel south through Algeria and by 17 August was in Mali, close to the area where Skinner paused his journey for a short time. We will have to wait for further signals to see whether 134957 waits here or pushes on to complete his desert crossing. 

We are still following twenty-two birds. Currently two cuckoos are in France – Walpole and unnamed cuckoo 134957.

Five birds are in and around the Po Valley in northern Italy – BB, Chris, Stanley, Waller and Livingstone.

Six birds are in Spain – Two of these are big movers this week. After finally leaving the UK, Derek hasn’t hung around. After a brief stop in central-western France, he is now in central-northern Spain, just south of Tolbanos de Abajo. It is Maji that has provided the biggest surprise though. He seems to be taking a tour of the European mountain ranges. Having spent a time in the Austrian Alps, he is now in the central Pyrenees!

David is still in Montenegro and Ash is still in Croatia; both of these birds could make the move to Africa any day now.

We now have seven birds in Africa, six of them south of the Sahara. Emsworthy is the latest to arrive here and he is currently just south of Lake Chad, in an area that Chris also favours. Three other Cuckoos – Peter, Hennah and Dudley – are also close to Lake Chad.

Derek has still not left yet Britain which means that he and Cuckoo 134957, who is in Belgium, are currently our two most northern Cuckoos. Walpole is only a little further south, still in France (along with Emsworthy who is close to the south coast) where they have been since early July. 

Signals received yesterday show that Cuckoo 134955 is now in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Dudley, one of the other birds tagged in Sherwood has finished his desert crossing and made it to Nigeria while Cuckooo 134957 is much further north in Belgium. 

Sherwood bird 134957 appears to have moved around within Germany before settling in the most southern area of the Netherlands. The signals from Germany were all of poor quality so do not show on the map but you can see his location to the north-east of  Maastricht in the Netherlands.